The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price just jumped to a new all-time high.
On Thursday morning Aussie time, the world's original and biggest crypto was trading for a remarkable US$110,724 (AU$171,825).
The digital token has retraced a touch from that record high and is currently trading for US$109,405, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The Bitcoin price has been on a tear since hitting recent lows of US$76,273 on 9 April. At the current price, the crypto is up more than 43% from those lows.
And with the token still trading within a whisker of this morning's new all-time highs, Bitcoin now commands an eye-popping market cap of US$2.17 trillion.
To put that in better context, and in Aussie dollars, that's AU$3,367,500,000,000.
That's a lot of zeros!
What's sending the Bitcoin price flying to new records?
Reece Hobson, crypto analyst at eToro Australia, called the Bitcoin price topping US$110,000 "a significant milestone", adding that the surge to a new all-time high "stems from multiple catalysts".
Among those catalysts is the big increase in money flowing into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
According to Hobson:
Institutional inflows, particularly through US spot bitcoin ETFs, have pumped US$2.8 billion into the market in May alone, with total ETF assets exceeding US$122 billion. To put that into perspective, an estimated US$150 to US$225 billion has been invested in gold ETFs since 2003.
Hobson noted that institutions like Strategy now hold over 506,000 Bitcoin, which the analyst said underscores corporate confidence in the world's first crypto.
Hobson said other factors sending the Bitcoin price to new highs include "global liquidity growth and a weakening dollar amid US China trade tensions", which have boosted Bitcoin's appeal as a hedge.
Mena Theodorou, co-founder at Aussie crypto exchange Coinstash, said the new high-water mark, "marks a major milestone in the asset's evolution from a niche internet coin to a global digital store of value".
Theodorou said this sees Bitcoin's market cap surpassing tech giants like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL), or Google to you and me.
"Bitcoin is now the fifth-largest asset in the world by market cap," he said.
As for what crypto investors may expect next for the Bitcoin price, Theodorou said:
As Bitcoin approaches uncharted territory, both bulls and bears will be watching closely to see whether the current momentum is strong enough to sustain a breakout and usher in the next phase of price discovery…
On the horizon, we have US debt refinancing to consider, along with interest rates being cut locally and across UK, Europe and China.
What about Ethereum?
So, the Bitcoin price is going gangbusters.
But what about Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the world's number two crypto by market cap?
Well, at US$2,600, the Ethereum price has rocketed 77% since its own recent lows on 9 April. But it's still down some 47% from its all-time highs of US$4,892.
That record was set way back on 16 November 2021.
"Ethereum's lag might be temporary," said eToro's Hobson, adding that "Ethereum's underperformance this cycle is striking".
Hobson concluded:
Bitcoin's dominance is the main event for now, stealing the spotlight. However, when Bitcoin's dominance peaks, that's when altcoins typically shine brightest, historically flipping the script as capital flows into alts.
